I pursued the Mexican stoneroller ( Campostoma ornatum) for a few minutes trying to get a photo or two before deciding to quit harassing the fish in that stream. The photos were poor, but confirmed a male stoneroller. I’m excited to have seen the fish, but I feel terrible about chasing a Mexican stoneroller in its breeding season.
Well, here are some things I’ve learned: The streams and pools of the Swisshelm, Chiricahua, Mule, Pedregosa, Perilla and Peloncillo mountains are part of the Rio Yaqui Drainage. Those water courses drain toward Sonora and the Rio Yaqui and have or had -some have been extirpated – the same eight species of fish that are found in that large Sonoran river. The Mexican stoneroller is one of those eight species and I owe that fish big time for helping cure the blues. Yay, for cool native fish in the borderlands!
The photos are mine of that riparian area and show the shallow stream that makes it very easy to spot interesting fish in the water.
